Cotton press control mechanism



, Sept. 1, 1942. J. J. WALLACE COTTON PRESS CONTROL MECHANISM Filed Nov. 24, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 P 1942- J. J. WALLACE COTTON PRESS CONTROL MECHANISM Filed Nov. 24, 1959. 2 sheets-sheet 2 awe/Mom gawm /7 JJ Wei 5'05 Patented Sept. 1, 1942 UNIT D STA iii.

()FFIC COTTON PRESS CONTROL MECHANISM Jeffrey J. Wallace, Amite, La., assignor to Gullett Gin Company, Amite, La., a corporation of Louisiana 1 Claim.

This invention relates to cotton presses of the down-packing type, in which a pair of press boxes rotates in alternation between a tramper and ram for subjecting the cotton first to the tramping, then to the bailing.

It is, of course, essential that the press boxes shall rest firmly upon sills when the tramping or compressing is taking place, and that they must be lifted slightly from the sills to permit turning.

It is most important that it shall not be possible to operate the tramper while the press boxes are lifted from the sills, or while they are being turned, on account of the resultant damage to the press boxes by such operation.

In view of the great weight of the press boxes and contents, it is customary to counterbalance most of the weight of the boxes by suspending them from a spring, the strength of which is almost but not quite enough to sustain them, so that the boxes rest lightly upon the sills, the relatively small additional force required to lift the boxes being exerted manually through suitable lever and linkage mechanism.

The present invention has for one of its objects to provide lifting means for the press boxes which includes the intercalation of a lever between the suspending springs and the press box unit, havin its fulcrum on one side of the point of suspension and the springs on the other side, whereby, due to the gain in mechanical advantage, much lighter springs may be employed than where the boxes are directly suspended from the springs, and upon occasion the entire weight of the press box can be lifted manually without the benefit of springs, as for example, when the springs are broken or awaiting replacement.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means for automatically breaking the driving connection of the tramper when the lifting lever of the press box is operated to lift the press box unit, and maintaining said connection broken during the entire period of rotation and until the press boxes are down again on the sills.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings throughout the several figures of which the same characters of reference have been employed to denote identical parts:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a cotton press unit embodying the principles of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an end elevation;

Figure 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a vertical section on a somewhat enlarged scale, showing the suspension mechanism;

Figure 5 is a cross-section taken along the line 55 of Figure 3; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of one'of the vertical frame members illustrating the manual levers for operating the lifting mechanism and shifting the tramper drive.

Referring now in detail to the several figures, the numeral i represents the base of the cotton press unit having the vertical end frame members 2 and 3 which are preferably of similar construction, and as shown in Figure 6, are of channel shape. An intermediate post 4 constitutes a common frame member supporting the horizontal beams 5 and 6, which, respectively, constitute the supports of the hydraulic ram and the tramper, the latter instrumentalities being designated by the reference characters 7 and 8, respectively.

Beneath the plane of the tramper and ram, when I these members are in their raised position, is a press box frame comprising the longitudinal beams 9 and I0 and the cross beam 1 I, which latter is supported on a' turn table l2 which turns on antifriction bearings upon a collar l3 slidably mounted upon the post 4. The press boxes M and I5 are suspended from this frame. The press boxes normally rest upon sills [6. The collar l3 which rotatably supports the press box frame is suspended by means of rods l1 and I8 from a pin ill to which at its opposite ends are connected the identical levers 20. The levers 20 are a most important feature of the present invention. It will be noted from Figures 1 and 4 that they are fulcrumed at the point H to a bracket 22 fixed to the beam 5, this point of fulcrum being to one side of the point of suspension I9, and that on the opposite side of said point of suspension the levers 20 are upheld at the point 23 by rods 2d resting upon the tops of spiral springs 25, the springs surrounding said rods and being adjustable as to strength by means of nuts 26 which may be screwed up or down upon the threaded portions of said rods. The levers 20 are pivotally connected to the opposite ends of a pin 21 projecting from the socketed end 28 of a link 29 which connects to one arm 30 fixed to the middle of a shaft 3| and forming one arm of a bell crank lever, the other arms 32 and 33 being fixed to opposite ends of the shaft 3|. The arm 33 is connected by a suitable linkage which includes the rod 34, bell crank 35 and rod 36 with a, hand lever 31, best shown in Figure 6. When the hand lever 31 is in the position shown in Figure 6 the press boxes are resting on their sills, the strength of the springs 25 being almost, but not quite, sulhcient to lift them. When the hand lever 31 is rotated in an upward direction, the rod 36 is pushed upwardly, the bell crank 35 rotated in a clockwise direction, the bell crank arm 33, the shaft 3| and the arm 39 being rotated in a counterclockwise direction exerting an upward pull upon the levers 20 imparting sufiicient additional force to the springs 25 to lift the press boxes.

It will be understood that since the point of suspension i9 is intermediate the fulcrum 2i and the point of spring suspension 23, that much lighter springs can be employed than would be the case if the springs pulled directly from the point of suspension [9 of the press boxes. It is also obvious that if there were no springs 25, the press boxes could still be lifted by the application of sufficient force to the free end of the levers Z0, rotating them about fulcra 2!.

It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art, that if desired, the nuts 25 may be screwed down sufficiently to increase the tension of the springs 25 to the point at which they will normally suspend the entire weight of the press boxes off of the sills. The effort of the hand lever 31 in such case will be to force the press boxes into contact with the sills against the tension of the springs 25.

By reference to Figure 1, it will be seen that the tramper driving mechanism comprises a shaft 38 having a fast pulley 39 and a pulley til loose on said shaft, said shaft being driven by belting ii, from a suitable source of power. Figures 1 and 6 show a manual lever 52 connected by a rod 43, bell crank 44 and rod 45 with a belt shifter 33 for shifting the belt from the fast to the loose pulley. When it is desired to stop the tramper, the lever 42 is moved upwards until the notch 41 is engaged by the detent 68. For starting the tramper, the detent may be lifted by the handle 49 and the hand lever 41 dropped to its low position shown in Figure 6.

The automatic means which the present invention provides for preventing the operation of the tramper while the press boxes are off of the sills, is as follows. The rod 45 is provided With a downwardly extending portion or loop 50 having a pin which projects into the path of the arm 32, which as has hereinbefore been explained, is fixed to the shaft 3!. The arm 32 moves in the same phase as the arm 33, which is on the opposite side of the shaft 3|. This is merely a preferred angular relationship of the arm 32 to the arm 33. When the arm 33 moves in a counterclockwise direction for lifting the press boxes, the arm 32 engages the pin 5| and moves the rod l5,v in a direction to cause the shiftin of the belt 4| from the fast pulley 39 to the loose pulley 49. This automatically stops the tramper as the press boxes are lifted from the sills. While the press boxes remain so lifted, the arm 32 will remain in the path of the pin 5| and the hand lever 42 cannot be operated so as to shift the belt from the loose to the fast pulley. Only when the hand lever 31 is in fully depressed position and the press boxes are back on their sills is the arm 32 sufficiently elevated to permit the unimpeded movement of the pin 55 in a direction to permit the hand lever 42 to be lowered and the belt shifter to move toward the left, as viewed in Figure 1, shifting the belt from the loose to the fast pulley. The tramper drive is not automatically restored to operative condition by the return of the press boxes to the sills, but is placed in such condition that it may be put in operation by the manual depression of the hand lever 42.

While I have in the above description disclosed what I believe to be a referred and practical embodiment of the invention, it will be understood to those skilled in the art that the specific details of construction as shown and described are merely illustrative of other mechanical equivalents Which could be employed without transcending the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

What I claim as my invention is:

Cotton press of that type comprising a pair of press boxes rotatable in alternation between a tramper and ram, including sills upon which the press boxes rest during the tramping and pressing operation, a frame supporting said press boxes, a post, a rotatable frame carrying member slidable upon said post, a pair of beams extending horizontally above said frame on opposite sides of said post, a transverse supporting bar secured to said beams to one side of a transverse vertical plane passing through the axis of said post, brackets supported by said beams on the other side of said plane affording transverse- 1y horizontally aligned points of fulcrum, levers fulcrumed in said brackets at said points and intersecting said plane, a pair of rods, adjustable collars on said rods, one for each lever vertically reciprocable through apertures in said transverse supporting bar and pivotally secured to said levers, springs surrounding said rods, above said supporting bar and maintained in compression between said supporting bar and adjustable collars on said rods, and connections in said transverse axial plane of said post suspending said frame carrying member from said levers at points between the connections of said rods and said fulcra, and means connected to the free ends of said levers for raising and lowering them.

JEFFREY J. WALLACE. 

